Only with the mercy of Srila Vyasa Dev are we able to get an access to the most treasured scriptures. These scriptures are not only precious but a backbone of all our knowledge philosophy.
However, it is only when Srila Prabhupada and Our Spiritual Masters become merciful upon us and guide us to bring these scriptures into our life, that we are able to lead a blissful life according to the instructions of the Supreme Lord himself.
To Thank Our Spiritual Master, HH Kratu Maharaj who has imparted the injunctions of thes scriptures to us, we celebrate His Vyas Puja Mahotsav every year with great pleasure and delight.
This year it was celebrated in the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani in Sri Vrindavan dham.
The two day festivity comprised of endless glorification of Srila Gurudev by His divine Godbrothers and many of His disciples and followers. Many hearts melted to realise their good fortune they have after hearing these glorifications.
A grand cultural performance was put up by Maharaj’s young disciples and followers, members of IYF C2C which consisted of His favorite pastimes in the form of dance and drama.
The Charan Abhishek and guru arati made many eyes teary and brought an end to this auspicious event.
All glories to Srila Gurudev !

Every human being is obliged and has an obligation? We are under whose obligation? Demigods – Sun God, He gives us heat and light; moon nourishes our eatables and like that Indra, Chandra, Surya, Brihaspati, they all are demigods and are supplying. They are supplying and they don’t send bill for what they are supplying so we are indebted to them.

We are obliged to cow and ox. Ox is tilting the ground and cow is giving us milk, butter, butter milk, ghee, etc. Mother Cow is nurturing us so we are under obligation to cow and ox.

We are indebted to our forefathers also. Why? because they not only brought us to this human form of life which is very rare and valuable but also nourished us, nurtured us. They provided us food, clothing and education so we are indebted to them.

Those who are cent percent surrendered and are serving Krishna, they are not under any obligation of “devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan”. Why? Because they are surrendered and are serving Krishna. “Sarvātmanā”, the king is dependent on Krishna, demigods are dependent on Krishna and everybody else. Just by supplying food to the stomach, we automatically nourish our hands, nose, ear, whole body so simultaneously, serving Krishna, “sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ”, by surrendering to Krishna we pay up our debt.

Why perform Shradh Ceremony?

So that we can relieve our ancestors from the hellish conditions, suffering condition.

If we are not cent percent surrendered to Krishna then we must perform Shradh. Lord Ramchandra did, he performed for Dashrath Maharaj, pinda daan. There was no question of Dashrath Maharaj going to hellish conditions because Lord Ramchandra was his direct son. It is the greatest fortune to have Krishna as your son, God as your son, Dashrath Maharaj will never suffer from hellish conditions, go to hell, even then Lord Ramchandra performed shradh. Lord Chaitanya is God himself, he also went to Gaya to perform Shradh Ceremony for his departed father, Jagannath Misra. So if we are not cent percent surrendered then we must perform Shradh Ceremony to pay up our debt to our forefathers, to relieve them from their hellish conditions.

How to perform Shradh?

It is stated in Srimad Bhagvatam that one must call pure brahman and perform the ceremony. One must cook sumptuous, beautiful, tasty, rich prasadam and that one has to offer to Lord Vishnu. This is written in Srimad Bhagvatam that first one must offer it Krishna, Vishnu, Ram, Narayan, Laxman and then one must offer to the Brahmans. When Advaita Acharya performed Shradh Ceremony of his father, first, he offered to a vaishnava, not even brahmans and Srila Haridasa Thakur was the most exalted vaishnava present there; He was a Muslim, he was not within varnashrama even, not even a brahman but a pure vaishnava. After offering to the Lord, one must offer to the vaishnavas, then one must offer to brahmans and then to one’s relatives, after that one is supposed to offer to people in general, beggars and after everything is over, one is supposed to honour that prasadam and give dakshina to brahmans, vaishnavas, the best donation is to vaishnavas. One should do it with faith and that will relieve one’s ancestors from the pangs of maya, suffering.

Preparing for initiation means taking spiritual life seriously and when one is convinced that this material world has nothing to offer, it is just for the body. Material world is going to offer everything for the body but not for the soul.

Then what about the soul ? That is preparing for initiation- “I want to do something for myself. What is that something that I want to do for myself ? That I want to advance in my spiritual life.”

Srila Prabhupada says that if we want to learn carpentry, how do we learn? By working under a good carpenter. How can we become a doctor? By working under a doctor and reading the medical books available. Similarly, if we want to do something for ourselves, if we want to become spiritually advanced, then we need a Spiritual Master who can teach us how to advance in our spiritual life.

What are our shortcomings? How can we go in the right direction ? A Spiritual Master can put us on track again and having a Spiritual Master means having a well wisher, our guardian, who serves his disciples. A Guru, helps us, holds our hand and brings us to Krishna. So preparing for initiation means taking help from the Spiritual Master to advance in the spiritual life.

Srila Rupa Goswami in Sadhna Bhakti, says that

“Aadau Guru Padashraya”

Aadau means right in the beginning, we have to find a proper Guru and take shelter of him.

Preparing for initiation means that we have to fix the teacher then we can advance. The following things we to follow, 4 regulative principles, 16 rounds and studying the recommended Vedic Literature, few books and prepare ourselves.

We have to accept “Vartamana Pad-Pradakshika Guru”, Siksha Guru, Diksha Guru, Chautha Guru, Guru means many Gurus so it is not that Diksha Guru is all in all, there are many other ways Guru comes to us and topmost Guru is Krsna, Chaitya Guru.

“Krsnam Vande Jagat Guru”. Krishna is the topmost Guru. So this is preparing for initiation.

If we take 1 step towards Krishna, then He will take 10 steps towards us.

Krishna’s most important Dharma is that He is Bhakta Vatsal, He is Kripalu, He is Karuna Sindhu, Krishna gives us more than what we deserve but we have to learn to dovetail it with Krishna. Like Srila Prabhupada, He left everything and then Krishna gave Him more than He could earn in pharmacy or any other business.

So we should not be afraid to dovetail everything to Krishna, not that Krishna will run away with our money, house, family or friends, He will just purify and give it to us back in many million folds. This is Krishna’s nature, He doesn’t want to see His devotees suffer and no devotee suffers.

Dhruva Maharaj, he left his father, mother, kingdom and family and at the end, Krishna gave him everything.

Gopis, they gave up everything for Krishna and at the end Krishna says, ” I am yours and I cannot repay your debt, I am eternally indebted to you”. Same thing with Hanuman, Ramchandra couldn’t pay His debt to Hanuman, He eternally remained indebted to Hanuman.

So when we give it to Krishna, do not think that Krishna will snatch it away or run away with it. No ! He is Kripalu and His most important Dharma is that He is Bhakta Vatsal.

Krishna doesn’t keep, He gives, this is His nature, His Dharma, Bhakta Vatsalta.

If we chant attentively, then we will be able to relish the transcendental love of Krishna, that transcendental mellow. Just like if we are a very big businessman, having zillions of dollars worth factory somewhere and it is burned to ashes, somebody calls us and says, “Sir, the factory is on fire.” We will be in so much anxiety and at that same time we are also very hungry, very very hungry, almost dying and we want to eat. When we eat, there is anxiety, all our attention, our mind and everything is in the factory and we are eating. So our belly will be full but we would not be able to experience the taste of different, nice and tasty items. We would not be able to taste them because our mind is somewhere else, into our factory, so our belly will be full but that transcendental mellow, we would not be able to relish.

Similarly, if we chant, the sins will be gone as sure as death. If we chant, it will do good to us from every respect but if we want to relish the transcendental, loving exchange between Krishna and us, then we must put our mind onto his Holy name. We should just say Hare Krishna and hear that name because name and Krishna, personality is non-different.
“Abhinattva nama naamino, nama and namino,” Krishna and the Holy name are non-different, so it will do good to us. If we chant inattentively, we will not be able to derive full benefit, that is why one must put his mind onto chanting and the easiest method, Krishna is prescribing, “Wherever our mind is running, we see his activity and bring him back like that.”

“Abhyāsena tu kaunteya vairāgyeṇa,” detachment from the material world and constant practice, then the mind will focus.

So it is important but in the beginning stage, if we are not able to chant, then Srila Prabhupada says, “First quantity then quality.” Quality will come if we keep chanting, sooner or later offences will be stopped but the secret of success is to keep chanting. Not that we are not able to concentrate and let us stop. If it is not attentive then also we should chant. The idea is to chant and then when we become mature and with practice, this mind will be always there.

If we develop some attachment or some love for somebody, then the mind is always there, when we develop some love for chanting and for Lord Krishna, then our mind would to that. So it is the way and the means, we must do quantity first and then the quality will come. Srila Prabhupada says the secret of success, 90% of success will come from chanting the Holy name, Hare Krishna Mahamantra and He also says that the first and the foremost important instruction of the Spiritual Master is that one must chant 16 rounds a day .

Srila Prabhupada said, “Our first business in a day is to chant our rounds.”
This is a very important instruction of a Spiritual Master, therefore, one must chant Hare Krishna Mahamantra.